Secretary speaks at Fullerton Forum in Singapore

[February
02
2018]

Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Mr. Kapila
Waidyaratne PC attended the Sixth IISS Fullerton Forum: The IISS SLD
Sherpa Meeting 2018 in Singapore. The Secretary was accompanied by the
Commander of the Navy Vice Admiral Sirimevan Ranasinghe to the
conference held at the Fullerton Hotel in Singapore from 28th to 30th of
January (2018).

Known as the 'IISS Shangri-La Dialogue Sherpa
Meeting', the IISS Fullerton Forum plays an important role in
preparations by participant governments and by the IISS itself for the
annual IISS Shangri-La Dialogue defence ministers' summit, which will be
held in Singapore for the seventh time from 1-3 June 2018.

Secretary Waidyaratne was the first speaker to address
the important gathering on Tuesday morning (30th January). Addressing
the gathering on "Managing Challenges at Sea" the Secretary said that
oceans in the world are being exploited at an unprecedented pace and
that oceans have become fighting grounds between countries competing
with each other for reasons such as supremacy, economical advantage and
extension of power.

He said that the 21st century has seen new threats
posed on the oceans such as maritime terrorism, human trafficking, drug
running, unreported and unregulated fishing etc. Shipping traffic
between the East and West has also greatly increased. Subsequently, the
challenges faced in the maritime arena have proved to be more dynamic,
unpredictable and diversified in nature to understand, he said.

"Having discussed the present maritime challenges
posed in front of legal enforcement and naval agencies, one must
understand the dynamic nature of the challenges that maritime community
and think tanks are confronted in various parts of the world, both
collectively and individually", he noted.

He stressed the importance of mutual interest and
understanding among countries when addressing on a mechanism meant for
mitigating and negotiating maritime disputes and to maintain good order
at sea. Further speaking he said, the impact of globalization and
interdependence will steadily grow in the future, and so will unlawful
actors who utilize seas for nefarious designs. Consequently, nations are
likely to adopt the idea of collectiveness over doing things
unilaterally per force rather than as a matter of choice, he added.

Mentioning some challenges emanating from the sea
namely; freedom of navigation, safety and security at sea and matters
relating to maritime environment and marine resources, he said that
these maritime challenges should be managed with a view to achieve a
sustainable solution.

In conclusion he said that, we need to understand and
tackle the ever evolving maritime arena and the complex web of
challenges surrounding it and we must be willful in giving up our
disparities both at regional level and global level with an objective of
achieving the maritime corporation for secure seas.

The keynote address was made by Hon. Song Youngmoo,
Minister of National Defence of the Republic of Korea.